HELSINKI UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY Department of Computer Science and Engineering Laboratory of Software Technology Antti Villberg Design Challenges of an Ontology•Based Modelling and Simulation Environment Master’s Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Technology Espoo, October 3, 2007 Supervisor: Prof. Markku Syrjänen Instructor: Tommi Karhela, D.Sc. (Tech.) HELSINKI UNIVERSITY ABSTRACT OF THE OF TECHNOLOGY MASTER’S THESIS Author: Antti Villberg Name of the Thesis: Design Challenges of an Ontology•Based Modeling and Simulation Environment Date: October 3, 2007 Number of pages: 19+124 Department: Department of Computer Science and Engineering Professorship: T•93 Knowledge Engineering Supervisor: Prof. Markku Syrjänen Instructor: Tommi Karhela, D.Sc. (Tech.) This work is part of a strategic effort at VTT for creating a modeling and simulation environment with the goal of accelerating the adoption of simulation in engineering across disciplines. The modeling and simulation environment adopts rich semantic knowledge representation to enable integration and interoperability between existing simulation tools and engineering information management systems. The vision of the modeling and simulation environment introduces the reader to the challenges and possibilities of simulation•based engineering, which includes comprehensive life cycle support for distributed modeling, simulation and semantic information management. Available technologies and tools are widely covered in the technology review. The treatment places emphasis on process modeling and simulation, which is the origin of this effort. The main contribution of this thesis is the identification and analysis of main design challenges of creating the environment presented in the vision. This work discusses 14 design challenges reflecting the vision, technology review and prototype implementations developed during this work. The discussion is concluded with some general analysis and recommendations for implementation. Keywords: ontology, process modeling, simulation, software architecture, software design 1 TEKNILLINEN KORKEAKOULU DIPLOMITYÖN IIVISTELMÄ Tekijä: Antti Villberg Työn nimi Ontologiapohjaisen mallinnus•ja suunnitteluympäristön suunnitteluhaasteet Päivämäärä: 3.10. 2007 Sivuja: 19+124 Osasto: Tietotekniikan osasto Professuuri: T•93 Tietämystekniikka Työn valvoja: Prof. Markku Syrjänen Työn ohjaaja: TkT Tommi Karhela Tämä työ on osa laajempaa strategista tutkimusta VTT:llä, jonka tavoitteena on kiihdyttää simulaation käyttöönottoa erilaisissa insinööritehtävissä luomalla mallinnus• ja simulointiympäristö. Mallinnus• ja simulointiympäristö pohjautuu ilmaisuvoimaiseen merkityksiä mallintavaan tiedonesitykseen, jonka avulla olemassa olevia simulointityökaluja ja suunnittelujärjestelmiä voidaan yhdistää toisiinsa. Mallinnus• ja simulointiympäristön visio esittelee lukijalle haasteita ja mahdollisuuksia, jotka liittyvät simulaatiopohjaiseen insinöörityöhön, jossa hajautettu mallinnus, simulointi ja merkityksiin perustuva tiedonhallinta on elinkaariajatuksen mukaan kattavasti tuettuna. Kirjallisuustutkimuksessa käsitellään laajasti olemassa olevia teknologioita ja työkaluja. Työssä painotetaan erityisesti prosessien mallinnusta ja simulaatiota, jonka pohjalta tätä tutkimusta on alettu tekemään. Työn pääasiallinen tulos on esitetyn vision mukaisen ympäristön luomiseen liittyvien suunnitteluhaasteiden tunnistaminen ja analysointi. Työssä käsitellään neljäätoista suunnitteluhaastetta, joita peilataan visioon, kirjallisuustutkimukseen, sekä työn aikana kehitettyihin prototyyppitoteutuksiin. Käsittely vedetään yhteen yleisten johtopäätösten ja toteutussuositusten muodossa. Avainsanat: ontologia, prosessimallinnus, simulaatio, ohjelmistoarkkitehtuuri, ohjelmistosuunnittelu 2 Acknowledgements I first express my thanks to my supervisor professor Markku Syrjänen and instructor Tommi Karhela. Your advice was wise even though I did not always take it. Special thanks are due to all persons contributing to the modeling and simulation platform development, especially Kalle, Marko, Tommi, Toni and Tuukka. It has been a priviledge working with you. Finally, to my family and friends, thanks for the support and patience. Espoo, October 3, 2007 Antti Villberg 3 Contents 1 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 19 1.1 Background and Motivation ....................................................................... 19 1.2 Objectives and Scope ................................................................................. 20 1.3 Structure of the Thesis................................................................................ 20 2 Vision................................................................................................................ 21 2.1 Overview ................................................................................................... 21 2.2 Towards semantic models .......................................................................... 21 2.3 Towards modeling•based engineering......................................................... 22 2.4 Challenges.................................................................................................. 24 2.5 The state of the art...................................................................................... 27 2.6 The environment of industrial modeling and simulation ............................. 29 2.7 Simulation•aided process engineering......................................................... 32 2.7.1 Process industry overview .................................................................. 32 2.7.2 Process modeling overview ................................................................ 33 2.7.3 Process simulation overview............................................................... 36 2.7.4 Stakeholders in process modeling and simulation ............................... 40 3 Technology review............................................................................................. 42 3.1 Introduction................................................................................................ 42 3.2 Semantic modeling with ontologies............................................................ 45 3.3 Fundamental technologies .......................................................................... 49 3.3.1 Architectural technologies .................................................................. 50 3.3.2 Persistent data storage technologies .................................................... 51 3.3.3 Knowledge representation technologies.............................................. 52 3.3.4 Upper ontologies ................................................................................ 54 3.3.5 Version control................................................................................... 54 3.3.6 Security technologies.......................................................................... 55 3.3.7 Existing ontology development environments..................................... 55 3.4 Supporting technologies ............................................................................. 56 3.4.1 User interfaces.................................................................................... 56 3.4.2 Knowledge management (KM) and artificial intelligence (AI)............ 57 3.4.3 Verification and validation (V&V) ..................................................... 59 3.4.4 Collaboration...................................................................................... 61 3.5 Integration and interoperability technologies .............................................. 61 3.5.1 Architectures ...................................................................................... 61 3.5.2 Ontologies and standards.................................................................... 63 3.5.3 Mapping............................................................................................. 64 3.5.4 Communication .................................................................................. 64 3.6 Identified systems and tools to be integrated............................................... 65 3.6.1 Simulation tools.................................................................................. 66 3.6.2 Process simulation tools...................................................................... 69 3.6.3 Plant design systems and integration platforms ................................... 70 3.7 Analysis ..................................................................................................... 71 4 Problem statement.............................................................................................. 74 4.1 Overview ................................................................................................... 74 4.2 Hypotheses and approaches........................................................................ 74 4.3 Objectives .................................................................................................. 75 4.4 Requirements ............................................................................................. 76 4.4.1 Initial use cases................................................................................... 77 4 4.4.2 Functional requirements ..................................................................... 78 5 Design challenges and possible solutions ..........................................................